<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><option>-N<replaceable>x</replaceable></option></term>
+ <term><option>-N<optional><replaceable>x</replaceable></optional></option></term>
<listitem>
<para><indexterm><primary><option>-N<replaceable>x</replaceable></option></primary><secondary>RTS option</secondary></indexterm>
Use <replaceable>x</replaceable> simultaneous threads when
on a dual-core machine we would probably use
<literal>+RTS -N2 -RTS</literal>.</para>
+ <para>Omitting <replaceable>x</replaceable>,
+ i.e. <literal>+RTS -N -RTS</literal>, lets the runtime
+ choose the value of <replaceable>x</replaceable> itself
+ based on how many processors are in your machine.</para>
+
+ <para>Be careful when using all the processors in your
+ machine: if some of your processors are in use by other
+ programs, this can actually harm performance rather than
+ improve it.</para>
+
<para>Setting <option>-N</option> also has the effect of
- setting <option>-g</option> (the number of OS threads to
- use for garbage collection) to the same value.</para>
+ enabling the parallel garbage collector (see
+ <xref linkend="rts-options-gc" />).</para>
<para>There is no means (currently) by which this value
may vary after the program has started.</para>